A short feature coming in at 45 minutes from
the Rank Organization. It was meant to feature a few of their young actors
enrolled in their Charm School or The Company of Youth. Here are a few of
the notable alumni - Honor Blackman, Petula Clark, Hazel Court, Joan Collins,
Shirley Eaton, Jean Simmons, Barbara Steel, Jill Ireland, Patrick McGoohan
and the stars of this film. The film was produced by the B arm of Rank, Highbury
Studios. Not a bad group of actors. Thank them for Goldfinger! Rank brought
along these actors slowly - bit parts, B films and if they made it on to
starring roles in feature films. There is a documentary of this school out
there.
This is just a little quickie which features two future stars - neither of
which is the Penny of the title. Penny (Peggy Evans) is a model to a comic
artist who uses her as his main character in a syndicated comic. The artist
is a very thin and callow Christopher Lee - his voice not yet resonant as
it was to become and his acting a bit stilted. The other female lead was
to become much more famous than Peggy who left the business soon after this
film. She plays the roommate to Peggy and is a secretary at Scotland Yard.
The lovely Diana Dors pre-sex bomb, pre being blond and pre showing any cleavage.
Her delectable lower lip is still in place though.
Penny is a mystery nut and gets mixed up in a case involving smuggling German
war criminals out of Europe. Dors unfortunately disappears for most of the
second half. Lee gets to practice being maniacal, something that was to come
in handy much later on. Cute little film of little note except an opportunity
to see Lee and Dors pre-fame.
